2011 British Virgin Islands general election


The British Virgin Islands general election, 2011 was held in the British Virgin Islands on 7 November 2011. The result was a decisive victory for the opposition National Democratic Party led by Orlando Smith over the incumbent Virgin Islands Party, led by Premier Ralph T. O'Neal. No minor parties or independent candidates won any seats.

Background

The House of Assembly was dissolved on 13 September 2011, by the Governor, Mr William Boyd McCleary, on advice from the Premier. However, the date of the election was not announced until 23 September 2011.
Premier Ralph O'Neal confirmed that he would lead his party at the 2011 general election, even though he would turn 78 shortly after the election, and would be 82 at the end of the term of office.
Second district representative, Alvin Christopher announced that he would run for the Virgin Islands Party. Mr Christopher has formerly run for the VIP, the NDP and as an independent candidate.
Although the ruling Virgin Islands Party had a huge majority following the 2007 election the intervening years had been characterised by difficult economic times, and a series of natural disasters had hit the Territory damaging its infrastructure. Both of these events led to criticism being directed towards the ruling Government.

Results

The 2011 general election was largely a complete reversal of the 2007 election. Whereas in 2007 everything seemed to go the way of the VIP, in 2011 every closely contested seat seemed to end up falling to the NDP. The VIP characteristically dominated their safe seats in the First, Second and Third Districts, and the NDP characteristically dominated the At-large seats, sweeping all four. But surprise defeats for the VIP in Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Districts handed victory to the NDP. Former Premier Ralph O'Neal managed to cling on to his seat in the Ninth District, which he had held for 40 years, by just 28 votes.

District seats

The results of the voting for the district seats were as follows:
Winning candidates are highlighted in blue. Previously incumbent candidates are marked in bold.
CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Andrew A. Fahie 61165.8%
Preston Stoutt 31734.2%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
J. Alvin Christopher 42352.4%
Claude Cline-Skelton 33942.0%
Leall Rhymer 384.7%
Allewine Smith70.9%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Julian Fraser 61352.4%
Kevin Smith 55747.6%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Mark Vanterpool 66168.5%
Vincent Scatliffe 20921.7%
Collin Scatliffe 959.8%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Delores Christopher 72755.0%
Elvis Jerome Harrigan 59645.0%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Alvera Maduro-Caines 61261.4%
Omar Hodge 38538.6%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Kedrick Pickering 53570.1%
Ronnie Lettsome 15620.5%
Allen Wheatley 729.4%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Marlon Penn 52448.1%
Dancia Penn 42338.8%
Bevis Sylvester 11210.3%
Nolan Davis 302.8%

CandidateNo of votesPercentage
Ralph T. O'Neal 56549.4%
Hubert O'Neal 53746.9%
Lorie Rymer 201.8%
Devon Osborne 111.0%
Rheudell Samuel O'Neal111.0%

= Independent candidate

= National Democratic Party candidate

= Virgin Islands Party candidate
One of the bigger surprises was the defeat of Government minister and veteran politician, Omar Hodge, in the 6th district by political newcomer, Alvera Maduro-Caines. Early counts showed incumbent Premier, Ralph O'Neal, trailing his challenger, Hubert O'Neal, in the 9th district, but he eventually overhauled the challenger to retain the seat which he has held since 1975.
In the Territorial seats, the highest percentage of votes and greatest margin of victory was Kedrick Pickering in the 7th district. The largest number of individual votes however was Delores Christopher in the 5th district. The lowest percentage of votes by a winning candidate was Marlon Penn in the four way race in the 9th district. The lowest total number of votes by a victorious candidate was Alvin Christopher in the 2nd district.

Territorial At-Large Seats

The results for the at-large seats were as following. The top four vote receiving candidates are elected to the at-large seats.
PositionCandidatePartyVotes
1Orlando Smith''
2Myron Walwyn
3Ronnie Skelton
4Archibald Christian
5Irene Penn-O'Neal''
6Zoë Walcott-McMillan
7Vernon Malone''
8Keith Flax''
9Shaina Smith
10Natalio Wheatley
11Bertrand Lettsome
12Elton Callwood
13Khoy Smith
14Edmund Maduro
15Lionel Penn
16Eileen Baronville

= Independent candidate

= National Democratic Party candidate

= People’s Patriotic Alliance

= Virgin Islands Party candidate
Orlando Smith, being the leader of the victorious National Democratic Party, was invited by the Governor to form a new Government as the Premier.

Aftermath

On 9 November 2011 Governor Boyd McCleary officially appointed Orlando Smith as the Premier under section 52 the constitution. He became the third person in BVI political history to serve two non-consecutive terms of office as Chief Minister/Premier, and the fourth to win more than one general election as party leader
On the same day the first cabinet was sworn in under Orlando Smith. In addition to serving as Premier, Smith was appointed Minister of Finance and Tourism. Kedrick Pickering was appointed Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources and Labour, Myron Walwyn was appointed Minister of Education and Culture, Mark Vanterpool was appointed Minister of Communications and Works and Ronnie Skelton was appointed Minister of Health and Social Development.

Footnotes